Every forest begins with a single tree

Back from Dublin and had a great time celebrating Dad's birthday, catching up with him and Mom, and seeing friends.

The classic subversive housewife apron.

The obligatory Irish version of "Keep Calm and Carry On".

Not sure if this stuff ever existed outside Ireland - blast from the past found in the carvery of a local hotel when we went out for lunch.

Flash onto reflective plastic at night is not good for actually seeing anything, but this is a "look out for hedgehogs" poster at the local station.

I went to the large shopping centre at the other end of the industrial/commercial zone beside us yesterday to get a diary to use for gardening, as I seem to be accumulating more plants and actually keeping them alive. There's a massive multi-story Migros and I ended up going up to the top floor instead of down to the stationery and food floors. I was going to turn back when I realised I was in the sports section, but then saw the hobby section and wandered in there to see what they had. Then I spotted the gardening section and went to see if they had radish seeds as they were touted as easy to grow in the container gardening books I got delivered to Dublin. I stopped to admire some herbs in pots... and behind them I found something very familiar!

There were two trees from one supplier, in these shallow, wide pots, both of which were looking a little worse for wear, and four of different varieties from another supplier in more normal pots.

Never seen anything like this one before - green and pink leaves!

Gorgeous frond-like leaves. There was another like this one (photo didn't come out).

But the one I walked away with was this one - the leaf shape is just what I think of as quintessentially "maple". They were even on sale, as if my rubber arm needed more twisting... I got lots of friendly comments on it - really must start learning German seriously. -_-;

So, scouring forums and shops online for advice on what size of pot and type of soil to use for it, and will head out and get that later today and get it set up in a non-full-sun spot on the balcony. It will be a challenge since I've only just managed to sprout salad leaves and herbs, and keep adult plants alive, but it just makes me smile every time I see it.